Driven nonlinear potential flow with wave breaking at shallow-water beaches

We introduce a new model of nonlinear dispersive waves generated by wavemakers in deep water, coupled to a shallowwater model with wave breaking, modelled as hydraulics bores, in the shore zone. Coupling of deep- and shallow-water models requires the formulation of an advanced space-time technology able to stably capture the free-surface dynamics. Our approach comprises the direct discretisation of the variational principle for the continuum modelling of potential-flow water-wave dynamics. Preservation of the variational structure in the discretisation ensures that important conservation properties of the original continuum system are inherited to a high degree by the discrete system. The nonlinear equations of motion resulting from the coupling of the potential-flow water-waves and the (breaking) shallow-water waves are solved in unison. By construction, this process results in a stable and robust numerical scheme that is well suited to demanding maritime applications.